Easy Fabric Strip Banner

So, if I am being honest, I made the decorations for the Stache or Sash Bash party the night before the big event! Therefore, I needed an easy and quick decoration to put above the entry table.



I knew I wanted something with some texture and not just a printed banner. So, I cut strips of scrap fabric and knotted them around a length of ribbon. This was a fabulous way to use some of my fabric stash.





I am going to do this again for my Halloween/fall mantel, but I think I will put a lot more fabric strips on the ribbon to make it a bit more full.

Do you have any super easy (& last minute!) ways to add decorations to your parties?

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Playroom!!

Our playroom is mostly done. At least, as done as it is going to be for a while. So I thought I would share how it turned out.

We ended up with this:



but let's not get ahead of ourselves!

We started with a large room and a crapload of toys. We dumped all the kid stuff in this room when we moved in, but didn't have storage or furniture for it for about a month. Quite the mess! I felt stressed out every time I went into that room!







Since I sat in this room everyday (on the floor!) for a month while the boys played, I had plenty of time to think about what I wanted and how I wanted it organized. First things first, we needed storage. This room is pretty much a media room that we were using as a playroom. So there were no closets or cabinets for storage. Just a huge open space, which is perfect for us! So figured out that I could buy four pieces of white furniture from Ikea to build a wall to wall storage area for the left-hand wall. Well, it almost goes the full length of the wall. There is a space of about 10 inches which worked out well because I could fit the boy's big car toy in that slot.





I made the road on the top of the shorter bookcases, which I posted about HERE.



Eventually I will make vinyl labels for the white buckets, but I need to wait until I borrow the cricut from my sister. This is one of many things I still want to do in this room.

I love the bigger end pieces because it fits the bigger car toys well. It also stores our puzzles and some of our art supplies we use often. The rest of our art supplies are in a hall closet out of reach to minimize messes!







Looking into the room, we added a couch (my favorite part of the room!) that has recliners. Seriously, after sitting on the floor for a month, this couch is awesome! I got it at an outlet store nearby so it was brand new for only $300. Wow! The striped pillows were made from a floor pillow from Ikea that my mother-in-law cut it in half to make two smaller pillows. I made the blue pillow and have intentions of making a second one. But my sewing machine is not up to par and I didn't want to deal with it anymore. I would like to add some kind of window treatment, but not sure what yet.



Next to the couch I put an old school desk to use as a side table. It also is another surface for the boys to build towers or drive their cars.



Looking to the right of the room, this is what you see. (and see how little the boys look...the room is really big! I had a lot of wall space to fill up which is daunting!)



I used a curtain rod and curtain hangers to make an art display at the top of the wall. This was super easy because we already had the supplies! You can tell who painted which picture because Matthew will sit and paint until he paints a hole in the paper whereas John will paint for about 1 minute and says he is all done. :)

I also added an art area for the boys. The kids table and chairs is from Ikea that we already had. (I feel like Ikea sponsored this room!) I used a coated table cloth from Walmart to make the table cloth using THIS tutorial. I love not having to worry about marking up the table and can take it off if we aren't doing an art project. I got the white hanging containers from Ikea which holds some markers, stickers, and glue.



The magnetic boards from Ikea (shocking!) and the boys love them. I don't keep magnets on our fridge because they are so messy and the boys just like to shove them under the fridge. So these were perfect for our room!



I posted about the Play Nice signs HERE and you can download them for free!




So, that about wraps it up! The boys love the new set up in the playroom and we are in here every day. One day I will finish up the last of the details, but I am just happy the room is 'done'. :)

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Playroom Name Signs

Here is another little sneak peak into the playroom that I have been working on. I made these signs for John and Matthew. I made the design on photoshop, printed it out as a poster at Walmart, mounted it to a board, distressed it, and then hung it up! Basically, I used the steps from when I made my Family Tree Subway Art.





So, these look really small in the picture, but they are 16x20. The wall is REALLY big and I haven't finished decorating it yet. Plus, I need to make a third one when we pick out a name so there had to be room for three in that space!

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How To - Scratch Off Tickets

Like I said in my previous post, making scratch off tickets are really easy to do! Here is how I made the gender reveal tickets for the Stache or Sash party.




1. Print out your cards. (duh!) Here are the cards I used to make the tickets. I am also adding in the 'winning-girl' ticket, but I didn't actually use it since we are having a boy! Yes, they are sideways because that is how I had to print them to fit onto the business card template I used.






2. Use clear tape to tape over the space what is going to be the scratch off area. You can kind of see in this picture that I have the images all covered with tape.



3. Lay out all your cards so you can paint them. To make the paint, mix two parts paint with one part dish soap. You don't really need a lot of this if you are using a dark color. I used a plastic spoon and basically did 2 tablespoon of paint and 1 tablespoon of soap.



4. Paint over the images you want to be under the scratch off. The blue paint took one coat. The pink paint, however, took about 5 coats! So, if I had to do this again, I would always pick a dark paint color.



Let dry and DONE! See, super easy!

Here is what they looked like when they were done.



They scratch off really easily. Not like the real lotto tickets, but good enough for my purposes!



Here was the winning ticket! :)




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